Silk fibroin-based biomaterials for disc tissue engineering.

Low back pain is the major cause of disability worldwide, and intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is one of the most important causes of low back pain. Currently, there is no method to treat IVDD that can reverse or regenerate intervertebral disc (IVD) tissue, but the recent development of disc tissue engineering (DTE) offers a new means of addressing these disadvantages. Among numerous biomaterials for tissue engineering, silk fibroin (SF) is widely used due to its easy availability and excellent physical/chemical properties. SF is usually used in combination with other materials to construct biological scaffolds or bioactive substance delivery systems, or it can be used alone. The present article first briefly outlines the anatomical and physiological features of IVD, the associated etiology and current treatment modalities of IVDD, and the current status of DTE. Then, it highlights the characteristics of SF biomaterials and their latest research advances in DTE and discusses the prospects and challenges in the application of SF in DTE, with a view to facilitating the clinical process of developing interventions related to IVD-derived low back pain caused by IVDD.

[Preliminary exploration on effect of yiqi wenyang huoxue lishui treatment on neuroendocrine system in patients with congestive heart failure].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of Yiqi Wenyang Huoxue Lishui principle (YWHL, a therapeutic principle with Chinese medicine for reinforcing Qi warming Yang, activating blood circulation and promoting urination) on some neuroendocrine factors in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS: Forty-nine patients of CHF with heart function of grade III-IV were randomly divided into 2 groups. The 29 cases in the treated group were treated with YWHL and the 20 cases in the control group treated with captopril. Changes of angiotensin II (AT II), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO) and alpha-granule membrance protein -140 (GMP-140) were observed. RESULTS: After treatment, plasma level of AT II, ANP, ET, and NO lowered in both groups with insignificant difference, but the GMP-140 reduced more significantly in the treated group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: YWHL showed a regulatory effect of neuroendicrine system partially similar to that of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, it possibly can improve the ventricular remodeling and would be beneficial to prevent the thrombus formation and improve heart failure by means of inhibiting platelet activity.